


Your Hand in Mine

by rainbeep



Category: Harvest Moon, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, 牧場物語つながる新天地 | Story of Seasons
Genre: Claire gets the hermit out of his tower for once, F/M, Fluff, Introspection, fireworks festival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 02:02:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21468256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbeep/pseuds/rainbeep
Summary: Maybe - she had settled. Maybe there were others, ones able to spin her around the beach as if she weighed nothing, ones who were able to make her laugh so hard that tears streaked her face.But she held out her palm, patiently, for no one else.Wizard/Claire, oneshot.
Relationships: Claire the Farmer/Wizard Gale (Harvest Moon)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 15





	Your Hand in Mine

He joins her one hot summer day. She appears on his doorstep, overalls cut mid-thigh and very little under them but a navy swimsuit.

"They're having fireworks this evening," she said. "Put something cooler on and come with me."

He had almost stuttered, tripping over her forwardness and the farmer's tan that marked her shoulders. He wasn't sure he had anything ... _cool_, he said.

She smiled, one he came to recognize as her somehow having the answer to his qualm, and dug out a dark shirt from her bag. She had a feeling he wouldn't, she teased. She hoped it fit.

(It had, loose and smelling of her wood burning stove and sweet honey. She forgot to ask for it back.)

The heat was almost blistering and uncomfortable, especially for him, forever a recluse and too used to the clammy chill of the lighthouse. The wind heard his disgruntlement and blew a little more forcefully than it had before he left, sending Claire's braids unraveling and giggles coming from her person as she removed hair from her face.

She had spoken of her friends on the island, on her peers getting married and one or two having children. He so rarely saw them outside of his home that it was almost - off-putting, all of them in one place. Children shouted and ran down the beach, their noise carrying as far as the nook in the shade that Claire had picked out.

“You don’t have to join us, okay?” she said, shedding her rucksack beside him. "We can go home whenever you want. I just - thought you’d like the fresh air. And the fireworks in a few hours!”

Gale had never been happier to have, instinctively, brought along a book, burying his nose in the tome as the farmer unhooked her overalls and made her way across the beach.

The Wizard hadn’t seen Claire outside of her farm or his tower, and, not for the first time, he wondered - why she had _settled_. Why she had found his corner of the universe and decided to make it _home_, when there were tens of people here who, clearly, also enjoyed her presence.

Who were able to make her happy, her noises carrying just like the children’s. His eyes peeked up from his book when she squealed, carried easily over Owen’s shoulder, before her form was thrown into the waves.

He wasn’t bitter, he knew, watching as she surfaced, bangs plastered to her face. He was ... conflicted. _Confused_. Some of her peers had married, sure, but there were others who should have caught her attention more than him. 

“Hey.”

Her voice was soft, some time later, crouching at the edge of her blanket. She held her hand out to him, hair dripping down her shoulders.

“There’s some really pretty sea shells, if you want to come see, Wizard.”

Maybe - she _had_ settled. Maybe there were others, ones able to spin her around the beach as if she weighed nothing, ones who were able to make her laugh so hard that tears streaked her face.

But she held out her palm, patiently, for no one else.

“... If you insist,” he spoke, his hand in hers.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] Your Hand In Mine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22719739) by [ReadWithDetermination](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadWithDetermination/pseuds/ReadWithDetermination)


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